Indian prosecutors to seek death penalty in gang-rape case

LOS ANGELES TIMES |
January 3, 2013
| Updated: January 3, 2013 9:23pm

Musicians play John Lennon's "Imagine" in a memorial tribute to the 23-year-old Indian gang rape victim on Thursday. The mass performance, which featured some 600 guitarists, took place in Darjeeling.

NEW DELHI ­- Indian authorities on Thursday said they will seek the death penalty against five men accused of raping and fatally beating a woman on a bus in the country's capital, an attack that sparked a wave of protests over the mistreatment of women.

A special fast-track court will expedite the cases of the men, who face a host of charges including murder, rape, kidnapping and destruction of evidence. The 23-year-old victim died Saturday at a Singapore hospital of severe internal injuries suffered in the attack.

The woman, a university student, had boarded a bus in New Delhi with a male friend Dec. 16 when her attackers shut the bus's curtains, gang-raped her, and beat her and her companion repeatedly with iron rods, according to authorities. The victims allegedly were then thrown off the bus, naked and unconscious, onto the roadside.

A sixth defendant, a juvenile under Indian law, faces a maximum of three years in jail if convicted.

Rape cases often linger

The case has generated outrage throughout the country, with demonstrators amassing in the streets daily and demanding sweeping reforms in the handling of rape cases. Gang rape is common in India, and even when cases make it to court, they often linger there for years.

The fast-track court set up to deal with the case will also be used to handle all cases of crimes against women, authorities said. The government plans to open four more such courts in the capital.

"A serious message needs to be sent in dealing with such heinous crimes," Indian Chief Justice Altamas Kabir said Wednesday.

Support for execution

Indian news media reported widespread support for the death penalty against the men, if they are convicted.

Speaking to reporters, the girl's father said he also wanted the attackers executed. "The whole country is demanding that these monsters be hanged," Reuters reported the father as saying. The woman and her family have not been identified, in accordance with Indian law.

Prosecutors appeared in court Thursday and formally submitted a charge sheet laying out the allegations against the men. According to the charge sheet, prosecutors have DNA evidence linking the men to the attack, along with statements made by the victim before her death Saturday and by her companion.